The List: 21 Nov 1997 (Issue 320)

The start of the fourth and latest series of the US sitcom, where Ellen famously came out both on TV and in real life. See photo-caption.

Brit Girls: Cilla Channel 4, Sat 22 Nov, 9pm.

New series looking at the pop icons of the 60s, starting With a one-hour special on Liverpudlian warbler Cilla Black Find out if that legendary dress sense is an acquired skill, or simply a bad taste gene that’s been With her since those early days as a Cloakroom girl at The Cavern

Arthouse: A Very British Psycho

Channel 4, Sun 23 Nov, 9pm.

The lively new arts documentary slot takes a sly peep at the moVie that caused one of the biggest cinematic scandal of post-war Britain Dismissed as pornographic and overly Violent, Peeping Tom destroyed the career of its director Michael Powell, and here, we look at its impact through the life story of screenwriter Leo Marks Also featured are the mowe's two leads, Anna Massey and Karl Bohin Judge the smut levels for yourself when the film is screened at 10pm

The Scar BBCZ, Sun 23 Nov, 10.05pm.

A love story set against the decimation of a Durham pit town is the gritty scenario in this latest film in the Screen Two

series Charlie Hardwick plays May lulurtcm, a mother fzghting to hold her family together in the town known as Little Bosnia Then she meets Roy iBill Speedr, a kindly, attractive man, who iust 'iappens to be the site-manager of an encroaching strip-mine

Secret Lives: Billy Butlin

Channel 4, Wed 26 Nov, 9pm. The happy, Jolly holiday camp king

comes in for a bit of a pasting from the docurnentarv that sticks a crowbar behind closed doors. Behind the image of the family man who brought sunshine to countless holidaymakers, says Secret Lives, lies a far shadier indiVidual who ruthlessly used his famous camps to gain money, power, honours and women and whatever else was gomg at the time.

Pommies Channel 4, Thu 27 Nov, 10pm.

The first of three documentary programmes looking at British ex-pats down under through the uncompromising lens of Brian Hill, the filmmaker responsible for infamous fly- on-the-wall docs Sylvan/a Waters and The Club.

Date With An Artist BBCZ, Mon 1 Dec, 7.30pm.

Controversial artists and brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman, create a siiitably mad and crazy painting for Elastica's Justine Frischmann and Damon Albarn's bedroom, in this offbeat new arts series pairing artists with new patrons in a kind of dating agency for creators and clients

Modern Times: Arch People BBCZ, Wed 3 Dec, 9pm.

Phil Mitchell’s petty crim exploits ’neath The Arches in EastEnders \Vlll never seem giiite so rogtnsh again Modern Times takes a trip to find out what really goes on under London's some 4500 railway arches. Suffice to say, the bi7arre catalogue includes coffin- making, S8iM, murder, illegal dancehalls and counterfeit dens

EX-S BBCl,Wed 3 Dec, 10.45pm.

The long-running arts documentary series celebrates its 100th programme With this profile of Scottish folk music heroes, The Incredible String Band Putting in their ten bob’s worth are various famous fans including Billy Connolly, who, legend has it, got his first break from the bearded ones

as;

ELLEN IS OUT and shouting loud about it, in the much-talked about fourth series that caused a showbiz sensation in the States when its star announced she was gay, not only in the show but in real life. As plotlines became apparent, media speculation about the sexuality of Ellen Degeneres reached headline proportions, preparing viewers for a star- studded hour-long show where the star announced she was that unheard

of thin in sitcom-land, a lesbian.

Ellen, t e new series, begins on Fri 21 Nov, 9.30pm.

.5

Deadly Summer Channel 5, Sun 30 Nov, 9pm.

Channel 5 gets dramatic with Deadly Summer

TV & RADIO

‘ ‘. I. / 1;“, I“; s. v

If you’ve managed to twiddle the right buttons and gain a picture where once was fuzz on your TV set, there are several things you're likely to know Britain's fifth terrestrial channel for. Films (on a good night), footie and Kirsty, our very own newscaster, in that order.

Drama, however, is unlikely to be the lure that makes your finger linger over button number five. Thus far, the channel has failed to produce a

Cracker, a This Life or even a Taggart.

Into the breach steps Deadly Summer, the one-off drama from the makers of The Sculptress that Channel 5 is pitching as ‘the jewel in their scheduling

Further credentials come from production company Red Rooster, which was responsible for one of Channel 5’s best-received dramas to date, the launch night special, Beyond Fear, based on the true story of estate agent

Stephanie Slater.

This time the action takes few cues from real life, creating a near-farcical portrait of two families so opposite that one eats egg and chips and doesn't 'ave no table manners, while the other dines on quails' eggs and Beaujolais. Why the two should choose to go on holiday together is anybody's guess, but the ludicrousness of the plot ceases to matter so much when the action

hots up and bodies start to appear.

Seen as a murder mystery with a sense of humour, Deadly Summer is fine, if a little hammy. The creators have seen fit to make the menfolk such pigs you pray for them to disappear, and while the women are little better, they exact revenge on their sexist husbands with such unexpected new-found feminist glee, you can forgive (almost) every cliché.

Not exactly a Cracker in waiting, but a reasonable start for drama on a channel where the action has been far from packed. (Ellie Carr)

radio

highlights

Pop Goes The Web Radio 1, Sun 23 Nov, 9.30pm.

Two-part documentary looking at how the music industry is using the internet, and asking whether the net is changing the way the industry operates Apparently, music web sites are second in popularity only to porn sites So they must have something going for them

In Celebration Radio 4, Sat 29 Nov, 5.40pm.

The programme that celebrates the hidden Joys of everyday things, kicks of a new series With an appreciation of the marvellous material that is Velcro Dr llein/ Woolf applauds the SWiss invention by chatting to fly- iunipers who have entire suits made from Velcro to practise their sport and musicians who use it in their

compositions And you thought it was lUSi the stuff that held togther your granny's froc ks.

Stanza Radio 4, Sat 29 Nov, 11.30pm.

New series of the late-night performance poetry slot, with a special guest appearance from American West Coast poet/workie fred Voss. Presenter Simon Armitage hooks up With Voss at Huil Truck Theatre, where he performs his rhymes (or not as the case may beI and talks about his fifteen years of travels up the Californian coast wztlr his notepad and toolbox